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Sites in Need of Protection

Burial Mounds, Townsend, Tennessee

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The Issue

Burial mounds at Townsend, Tennessee are in imminent threat by a road to the University of Tennessee campus. "In August 1999 work began to widen U.S. Highway 321 to four lanes through Townsend, from Kinzel Springs to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

Online Sources for Reading:

"See the real truth" and what happens when all is lost. Has pictures.

An archive for Archealogy Dig News on Townsend Tennessee Hwy 73 is at this page.

The SEAL website (South Eastern Anti-Desecration League) page on the Townsend, Tennessee, Burial Mounds. View pictures of excavation and read letters, news articles and Freedom of Information act requests.

Interesting reading is SEAL's page displaying the email on "no safe archaeology" from Deb Huglin, Coordinating Archaeologist, E.M.I.T.A., to Benita J. Howell at the Anthropology Dept. of the University of Tennessee.

Redman's page with information on the Townsend Burial Site.

Requested Action:

Email, letter, phone and fax campaigns. People and addresses are given at this page.

Contact:

None in specific given. Email links for site owners are at the given web sites.

Update: As of 2001 30 Jan, Latest update at the SEAL page states: "11/1/00 -- Tennessee Department of Transportation and/or their subcontractors are try to putting pressure on those working the archaeological site at Townsend, TN. In the past couple of weeks, the road workers have been getting closer & closer to the workers at the dig; trying to pressure them to hurry up & get out of the way. In the latest incident, We were told that a bulldozer was driven over an old Cherokee house site that was being excavated. The road is up to the site at the Apple Barn dig and that site is now said to be 1.5 miles, stockaded. Rumor also has it that there is 6-8 feet of cultural fill that TDOT will not allow the archaeologists to 'salvage'. TDOT is supposed to be selling 'fill dirt' from part of the site and the buyers are sifting it for artifacts which they are selling at a local flea market.

Update: 2001 4 Feb. Agency to present revised plan on archaeological dig, 2001-02-04, by Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff.

A revised proposal on how to handle the graves found in the archaeological dig at Townsend is expected to be sent out soon by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)... (See above link for more.)

Update: 2001 4 Feb. Townsend dig extended until end of month, 2001-02-04, by Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff.

Archaeologists have been given until the end of February to gear down and finish the dig at Townsend before work can proceed on four- and five-laning U.S. 321 and Tenn. 73.

Since 80 percent of the funding to widen the road from Kinzel Springs to near the boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is federal, the regulations on preservation of historic places must be followed.
This necessitated the archaeological dig to retrieve facts about how early man lived in Tuckaleechee Cove before the road work could continue.

The dig was to have ended Dec. 31, but Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) gave archaeologists two additional months ``to gear down and finish up the work in progress,'' said Charles ``Chuck'' Bentz, head of the University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research, the group TDOT contracted with to do the dig.

The gearing down includes mapping the archaeological elements found at the site in front of the Apple Barn.

``We haven't started any new excavations since Dec. 31. We are scheduled to be out of the field by the end of February,'' Bentz said.

Archaeologists recently placed different colored plates around a stockade, houses and corn cribs at the site across the from the Family Inn. A plane then flew over and photographs were taken showing what the fortified village, that dates back to 1200 A.D., looked like at that time in history.

The plates were placed over post holes that supported the structures and fortifications of the early Native Americans.

It is not known what tribe inhabited the Tuckaleechee Cove at that time. It was not the Cherokee because they moved in at a later date.

In the center of the village was a bare area which served as the plaza, an area that was split by the construction of the current two-lane U.S. 321.

Bentz said the stockade once also crossed the road and circled on land outside the right-of-way the state owns for the road, land that could not be archaeologically explored.

Thus far 33 burials have been found at the Townsend archaeological sites, plus a mortuary that contained 25 more for a total of 58.

Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.


Update: 2001 17 Feb. From TN AIM :
-------------------------------
Archaeologists pack up Townsend dig
2001-02-17
by Iva Butler
of The Daily Times Staff

As archaeologists pack up and move off the Native American dig site in Townsend, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has been asked to stop any and all construction work until a protest from the tribes can be resolved.

The National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C., received a letter from James Bird, the cultural director of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, asking the council to intervene. They request that the FHWA reevaluate the site and have the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places make a determination on its eligibility as a historic site.

In seeking the council's intervention, Bird stated, "The case appears irredeemably tainted by personal and political agenda to the detriment of the heritage resources in the project area."

Bird said the Tennessee State Historic Preservation Office (TNSHPO), the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the FHWA "have largely bypassed the spirit of the NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act) in their attempts to push the completion of the highway project on an accelerated schedule."

He also stated that, thus far, 33 burials plus a mortuary with 25 interments -- for a total of 58 burials -- have been found on the site. "The impending abandonment of the data recovery efforts guarantees that a large number of human interments will remain unidentified and subject to destruction in the road-building process," Bird said.

Sundquist linked

Bird, who is also the tribal historic preservation officer for the Eastern Band, linked the effort to speed up the project to Gov. Don Sundquist.

"Much public controversy has arisen lately that notes Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist's purchase of 10 acres of property in the Townsend area, his partnership in Townsend area businesses and his planned retirement to Townsend have increased the urgency of the highway project completion timeline," Bird said. "These circumstances invoke concern for a conflict of interest."

He also said people involved in decision-making, "TNSHPO and the state archaeologist, answer to the governor." In addition to Bird, the organization of United Southern and Eastern Tribes expressed to the advisory council "serious concern about FHWA's treatment of this significant historic property."

Advisory council letter

Bird's charges led to the advisory council mailing a letter Monday to Mark Doctor of the Nashville FHWA office, said Laura Dean, program analyst for the advisory council.

"The letter asked FHWA to have their applicant (TDOT) stop any and all work at the site until we can get the situation resolved," Dean said. At the second of two consultation meetings held in Nashville on the dig, Don Klima, director of planning and review for the advisory council, "asked FHWA to reevaluate the eligibility of that archaeological site for listing on the National Register of Historic Places," Dean said. The site already meets one criteria for this designation, she added. Initially the site was thought to be of value only for research, but Bird disputes this. He said that the FHWA has not sent the advisory council any information about the site since the March 30 consultation meeting.

Rich Archaeological Find

Bird said the site is much richer in archaeology than was first thought. A fortified village dating to 1200 A.D. that was occupied by unknown Native Americans was discovered, along with pottery from the 1600s and 1700s, when the Cherokee had villages all the way along Little River. Former Cherokee winter and summer houses have been discovered.

Pottery from 300-500 B.C. has been uncovered, as well as grooved ax heads from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D.

The oldest items are pit features that date back to 2000 B.C.

In the letter to Doctor, the advisory council requested that the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places make a determination on whether the site meets other criteria under the preservation act. Bird said FHWA is depicting it as a burial site, but in fact it is a village site with burials. He said this could ultimately mean more archaeological work needs to be done.

Dean said, "FHWA did take another look a the site, but they involved the state historic preservation office and did not involve the tribes.

"The site clearly has value to the tribes. It is of religious and cultural significance to them, so they should have been involved in the reevaluation," she said.

However, the advisory council is only an advisory group and can't order FHWA to do anything.

"We don't have any preservation police," Dean explained. "We would hope FHWA would respond favorably to our request and take the steps to resolve this in an agreeable manner."

Concern over security

Even though the UT Center for Transportation Research is packing up, the state wants them to keep some people at the site during the day for security purposes.

Charles "Chuck" Bentz, head of the transportation center, said the archaeologists will not remove the black plastic that covers much of the excavated area at this time.

The 58 grave sites, which the Cherokee have indicated they do not want moved even if the road goes directly over them, are under the plastic in different areas.

The Cherokee did not bury their dead in graveyards, but beside or under their homes, so the graves are dispersed between five archaeological sites.

An FHWA proposal to cover the graves with concrete pads is being considered, but that is yet to be finalized in what is called a memorandum of agreement.

Bentz said artifact hunters will not be allowed on the site, even when the archaeological dig is completed.

He said he plans ``to ask the state for permission to continue processing the 1,000 to 2,000 bags of dirt currently in the greenhouse.''

This would involve running water through the soil and screening it to recover any artifacts.

Carl "Two-Feathers" Weathers, head of the Native American Indian Movement (NAIM), said he is worried about the security at the site. "NAIM will have people stationed at designated places to watch the sites and call the police if they see any looting," he said.

"When those trailers are gone, the artifact hunters will be diving right in. They'll want a piece of history.

"Our graves will be left unprotected," he concluded.

Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.


Update: 2001 23 Feb. From TN AIM :
Archaeologists begin digging again in Townsend
2001-02-23
by Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff

Archaeologists are again working at the Townsend dig after the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians raised the issue that all the human remains have not been identified.
Nick Fielder, archaeologist for the state of Tennessee, said Wednesday, ``The archaeologists are continuing to identify the pits that might have human remains. They will continue with the work to make sure all the graves are identified.''

After packing up and moving off the site Saturday, the University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research, the group contracted to conduct the dig, has resumed working on the pits again this week. ``The Cherokee raised the issue that they didn't think enough work had been done to make sure all the graves had been found,'' Fielder said. Fielder said the transportation center had halted the dig because of a ``concern that they didn't have clear instructions on what they were authorized to do.''

After the decision to start vacating the site had been made, transportation center officials became aware of a letter from an Indian consulting group involved with the project that requested work by the Tennessee Department of Transportation at the site be halted, Fielder said.

That raised more questions about what the archaeologists should do. ``It wasn't absolutely clear whether to stop construction work or archaeological work or exactly what to stop,'' he said.

Once state and federal highway officials became aware archaeological work at the Townsend site was being halted, they met and a letter was drafted to direct the archaeologists on how to proceed.

Subsequently, a letter from TDOT was sent to the UT Center for Transportation Research with instructions clear enough for the archaeological dig to continue, Fielder said.

Fielder said he does not know how long the project will take but said he hopes Charles ``Chuck'' Bentz, archaeologist with the transportation center, will have a handle shortly on how long that work will take.

Bentz said Thursday it could take a couple of weeks to make that determination.

Bentz noted the archaeologists had been scheduled to be out of the field by the end of February. In light of previous problems reconciling verbal directions on how to proceed with the dig, the UT Transportation Center requested and received written instructions from TDOT before resuming work at the site, he said.

Consultation meeting At a consultation meeting in March 2000, the second of two such meetings, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the governmental agency in charge of making sure the National Historic Preservation Act is followed, heard from the consulting tribes that they would rather the burials remain in place, ``in situ,'' as it is called.

The consulting tribes are those that inhabited the area where the dig is progressing, including the Cherokee, the Chickasaw Indian Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Indian Nation of Oklahoma. James Bird, the cultural director for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, says the issue is now ``more than just about the graves.'' Bird had sent a letter to the National Historic Preservation Office in Washington charging that the FHWA has not kept the preservation office informed of the fact that this is now a village site with graves instead of just a burial site. It is a much richer historical site than first thought, Bird said. The advisory council responded by sending the FHWA the letter last week asking them to ``direct its applicant, Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to cease any and all work and activity at the Townsend site until FHWA has met fully its obligations under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.''

The site's significance Bird said the advisory council has received no notification of how significant the site is since that second consultation meeting. He added that the Cherokee wanted other consultation meetings, but the FHWA has not arranged that. The letter the advisory council sent to the FHWA said it is ``our understanding that the Townsend site provides a dramatic and unique record of human occupation and use of the region spanning many centuries. While this property was expected to yield important information, it's true richness and value to Indian tribes was apparently not fully appreciated until after data recovery had begun.''

``All my rantings and ravings have proved to be substantiated,'' Bird said of the letter.

``The advisory council agrees there are other criteria for historic preservation and not just the graves. It is significant ... for us, involving occupation by the Cherokee over a long period of time,'' Bird said.

Plans and consultations He also said he does not know how the archaeologists can identify all the pits with graves unless they work on all the sites. ``The FHWA and TDOT should have had a new plan for mitigation after they realized the site was more extensive than originally estimated. They did not do that to my knowledge.''

Bird added, ``They have tried to limit their responsibility to identify the graves and ignore the larger significance of the site. This is a major Cherokee town site that was occupied over along period of time.

``The FHWA is supposed to have consultations with the tribes and other interested parties to come up with how to proceed, and they haven't done that. I hope they see the advisory council knows they haven't been following the process of the law like they should have,'' Bird concluded.

Toye Heape, the executive director of the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs, said the advisory council letter ``validates everything we've been saying all along. I couldn't ask for any more from the advisory council.''

Thus far 33 graves, along with a mortuary with 25 interments, for a total of 58 burials have been located.

Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html


Update: 2001 12 March
Townsend Case Sets Precedent 2001 March 12th, by Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff. Thanks to Brian Corntassel for submitting.

For the first time the Native Americans who are consulting parties must by law be involved in projects where archaeology is concerned, which means the Townsend dig is setting precedent.

``This is the first instance since the institution of new federal guidelines in Section 106 (of the National Historic Preservation Act) that specifically names the tribes as consulting parties,'' explained Brett Riggs, the new deputy tribal historic officer for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians and a Maryville resident.

Previously the consulting parties, tribes that lived in an area, could be included in plans, but that was at the discretion of the agencies doing the projects ``and most people elected not to do it,'' Riggs said. ``Now it's mandatory.''

``Theoretically when a project like this is proposed a planning process goes forward that involves environmental and archaeology surveys. When findings are made available there is a discussion on which properties are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. After they are determined eligible, then it has to be determined if they will be affected by the project or not,'' he added.

``If they are going to be affected, it must be determined what to do to prevent or mitigate the effect of the project. What is often done to mitigate that is archaeological recovery of the information,'' Riggs said. This is the situation in Townsend.

TDOT wanted to halt the dig in February, but the Eastern Band complained to the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation that not enough data recovery had been completed nor all the graves identified. The advisory council then asked the Federal Highway Administration for information on what has been done.

``We have their attention now,'' Riggs said of the governmental agencies involved in the Townsend project. ``The tribes are included in this process. All they have asked for is for the clear and fair administration of federal law. Nobody has dug in their heels saying you can't have your road. They just want to see the law that concerns cultural resources applied as written and specified.''

``I think this process is finally correcting itself (by including the tribes in decisions) and we're going to see this whole thing go forward as normal. Nothing extraordinary is being demanded. I personally don't think it's going to affect the road construction or completion schedule,'' he added.

``This is the first instance of this law being applied. Protocol is being set here,'' Riggs said.

The law has been on the books since 1993 but including the tribes became an express part of the code that took effect in June 1999.

As an indication of how important this is, U.S. Rep. Jimmy Duncan is meeting Tuesday in Washington with the Federal Highway Administration and TDOT.

This angered Eastern Band cultural director James Bird, who thinks the Native Americans should have been included in the meeting.

``Exclusion of the tribes from this meeting shows a disregard for the tribes' sovereign rights and is disrespectful,'' Bird said.

David Balloff, press secretary for Duncan, said TDOT asked Duncan to hold the meeting so the state people could meet with federal highway officials and other federal agencies involved with the road project.

He said the meeting is ``strictly informational and an attempt to find out where we are now with the process.''

Balloff said Duncan has met with the Native Americans in the past and will be glad to so in the future either in Washington or Tennessee.

Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.


Update: 2001 15 March From Native News Online:
Ceremony demanded for Indian graves
By KEN GARLAND
Scripps Howard News Service March 15, 2001
www.knoxnews.com
MARYVILLE, Tenn. - An agreement between the state of Tennessee and American Indians protesting the widening of a highway over land occupied by graves of their ancestors could come as soon as April 4, a leader of the protest says. Carl "Two Feathers" Whittaker said the Tennessee Department of Transportation plans to meet with Indian groups and other protesters, then hold a brief burial ceremony and pour concrete caps on the tops of the graves located where U.S. 321 will be.

But Whittaker said the state's idea of a burial ceremony is not enough. Unless a religious ceremony is adhered to, he said he will lead protests of the construction.

Whittaker said he met last week with archeologists for the University of Tennessee, which is doing the excavation, and from transportation officials and the state. He said so far 68 graves have been identified in the dig area. "They want to put concrete down on top of them to encapsulate them," he said. "Then, they will put dirt over the concrete and build the road on top of them."

What the group wants is a seven-day religious ceremony. During the seven-day period, Whittaker said, "there must be a separate ceremony for each of the 68 graves there."

He said he understands that maybe some tribes of Cherokee may have signed papers agreeing to the state's proposal. But, he said other tribes that have people buried there are not agreeing.

"There's more than the Cherokee buried here," he said. "There's Creek, Shawnee, some Cherokee, some Overhill Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw. They haven't identified all the graves yet."

If the state does not agree, he said the American Indians will launch more protests and other measures, such as getting motorists to block the highway. "We don't want to stop the road. We just want to make sure the burials are done right," he said. "All we want is proper closure. After the seventh day, they will go ahead and put the concrete over them, and it's over."

Copyright © 1999-2000, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights Reserved.
{ TENNESSEE NAGPRA }
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.

Update: 2001 29 March:
Archaeologist says he was overruled on Townsend road project
By Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff


Update: 2001 9 April:
Road agreement preserves Indian graves near N.C.
Thanks Stephanie.


Update: 2001 20 April:
Agreement Reached on Indian Graves


Update: 2001 21 April:
Archaeologist at Indian dig criticized by group


Update:2001 28 April:
Spirits Allowed to Rest; Cooperation Secures Resolution to Road Controversy


Update:2002 12 April:
Townsend unsure of fate of Native American museum

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